Clutch and power-transmitting device.



F. M. FEATHER. CLUTCH AND POWER TRANSMITTING DEVICE.

- Patented Aug. 9

APPLIGATIOK FILED OCT. 12,1909.

l O 0 A; a I

UNIED s.

FRANK 1V1. FEATHER, DE LOS' ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

CLUTCH AND rownn-rmmsniirrrne DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

rammed Aug. a, mic.

Application filed October 12, 1909. Serial No. 522,275. 7

an improvement on my invention as shown and described in U. S. Letters Patent No. 902,761 of date of Nov. 3, 1908. 1

'It is of the'objects of this invention to provide a mechanism which \villt-akethe place of the usual clutch and fly-wheel, which will compress air for starting the motor'md propelling the car for a reasonable distancethe clutch acting as a motor a to drive the car on the compressed air, it will also reversethe driven mechanism and under certain conditions act as'a brake. On the driving shaft is mounted a plurality of cylinders in which a-correspond1ng plurality of pistons attached to the driven shaftare adapted to I'GClDITQCfl-t. These pistons are mounted on a crahk on the driven. shaft.

while the cylinders are concentrically -ar-' ranged around the axis of. the driving shaft, so that upon any relativerotation of the two shafts the pistons will be reciprocated in the cylinders. By retarding the action of the pistons in the cylinders the driven member may be more or less rigidly locked to the driving member, formlngm thereby braking means, and this retarding meansfis preferably furnished by the compression air in the cylinders behind the pistons. ings are provided which may be restricted and through which the air must pass from behind the pistons, and thus the amount of locking effort between the two members of the clutch may be regulated. Automatic valves are provided so that air is taken into the cylinders from the atmosphere and is pumped out through these valve regulated passageways into a muffler and thence to the atmosphere. Connected with these passageways 13 a pressure reservoir or air tank into which air may be pumped during the operation of the clutch. When it is desired to start the engine it is only necessary to turn the air from the air tank into the cylinders by means of regulating valves, which have been arranged for this purpose, and the clutch will cause the engine shaft to rotate and thereby start the engine. I accomplish these and other objects by means of the device described herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: I

Figure 1- isa longitudinal section of my improved clutch with the parts in position -.to act as a clutch, the air in the clutches being trapped therein. Fig. 2- is a section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3" is a section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4:- is a section taken on line 4.--4 of Fig.1. Fig. 5- is a section taken on line 5 -5 of Fig. 1. V

In the drawings 1 have illustrated the clutch without any of the mechanism of an automobile on which it is preferably mounted, the operation of the parts being the same in whatever combination the clutch is placed, and will be understood without the illustration of any specific mechanism not forming a part of my invention.

The shafts 5, 6, are continuations of each other, shaft 5 being the driving shaft and 6 the driven shaft. the driving shaft, is a circular frame .7 form'- ing the base of the driving member of the clutch and forming as well the fly-wheel of l the engine. This frame. is provided with a plurality of cylinders 8, preferably three in number and radially spaced around the driving shaft. Frame 7 forms a hollow box of general cylindrical shape and is provided on its end with a cover plate 9 having a bearing a 10 for the driven shaft 6 therein. The driven shaft carries on its inner end a crank shaft 11 to which the pistons 12 are workably eon. nected by the connectingrods 13, and, as thc cylinilers 'are concentrically arranged around shaft 5, as shown in Fig. 2, the pis tons will be reciprocated in the cylinders upon any relative rotation of shafts 5 and (3. The remaining parts of the clutch consist particularly in the means to regulate the reciprocation of the pistons in the cylinders. In the head of each cylinder is port 14, cornmnnicating with valve bores 15 in which the rotary valve 16 is placed, on both sides of the valve bore are cylinders 17 and 19, both of which are in communication with 'tl' valve bore, one of these cylinders 17 'egmmunicating with the exhaust chamber or muffler 18 and the other chamber 19 communicating with the air pressure reservoir or tank 20-.

Mounted on and keyed to.

The cylinder 19 is connected with the air pipe 21, which leads to the air passage 22 consisting ofa central borein the driving I shaft 5. Extending outwardly from. this bore are a plurality of ports 23, Fig. 5, which communicate with-annular air chamber 24.

. the airpassing through-the pipe 27 may be caused to enter the air tank or be discharged into the open air as plainly indicated in Fig. 1. Leading around the valve 28 is the bypass 29 on which is disposed a check valve 1 30 adapted to permit the air in restricted quantities to pass from the cylinders into the air tank when the pressure in the cylinders exceeds that in the tank at all times when the three way valve is closed to all passa e therethrough, as shown in Fig. 1, but Wlll not permit the air to pass outwardly from the tank when the pressure in the pipe 27 is less than it is in the reservoir. By this construction itwill be manifest that upon any relative movement of .the difierent elements of the clutch, air will be forced into and stored in the reservoir for future use.

Mounted rigidly upon the shaft 6 is a hub carrying on its face toward the clutch a slide 32, on this slide an eccentric 33 is mounted. The eccentric has a slot 34 through which the driven shaft passes, the shaft limiting the movement of the eccentric. Pivotally mounted on the hub 31.is the bell crank lever 35, having projecting arms 37, 39, one

of the arms 37 extends into the socket 38 in the slide 32 and by its reciprocation therein moves the slide up'and down. The other arm 39 projects downwardly into the socket 40 formed in the slider or collar 41, which has a sliding non-rotatable movement on the shaft 6, this movement being imparted by any appropriate shifting device;(not shown) the forks of which may be adapted to enter the annular grooves 42 on the slider'to move the slider on the shaft. It will be seen that, by a movement of slider 41, the eccentric may be thrown 'into diametrically opposite positions, so that the actions of the valves connected thereto will be reversed and the whole mechanism operated in a reverse direction. ,The eccentric is provided with a strap 43 to which are connected three arms 44, one of these arms, the upper one, connecting directly with the lever 45 for the l for the retaining upper valve 16, the others connecting with s 47. This construction provides at once of the eccentric strap in a fixed position and for operative connections between the eccentric and the valves. The

- eccentric is so placed on shaft 6 in relation the .lower .valve levers through the toggle to the position of crank 11 that valves 16 are moved in proper relation to the movements of their respective pistons. movement throws the uppermost valve into the position shown in Fig. 2, connecting the cylinder compression port with the reservoir. When the eccentric is thrown to its dotted position, Fig. 3, the action of the valves is reversed and air is taken in from the compression port and discharged into the mufer. In this position when fluid pressure is supplied, the clutch acts as a motor, taking its feed from the compression tank and exhausting to atmosphere.

In the operation of my it will be presumed that shaft 5 is in rotation, that the engine has been started and that shaft 6, connected withthe traction wheels, is at rest. In this condition valve 28 stands in the position shown in dotted lines and the piston operates to draw in improved clutch air from the atmosphere and to force it' out through port 17. Valve 28 is then gradually thrown into the position shown in full lines and the pistons immediately begin to pump against an increasing pressure in pipe 27. An increasing rotary force is thereby placed upon the shaft 6 which -begins to revolve more and more rapidly against the retardation of whatever mechanism it is connected to at ,its other end. When the valve 28 has reached the position shown in full lines the pistons cease to reciprocate in the cylinders as soon as they pum up a pressure in pipe 27 suflicient to rigi y lock shafts 5 and 6 together and transmit power from one to the other. A

small amount of this pressure is allowed to pass through'the by-pass 29 to the pressure tank until the pressure therein is su-fiicient to lock the pistons against movement in the cylinders when the clutch operates and locks both drivin and driven shaft together. When it is esired to start shaft 5 and the engine connected thereto, it is first necessary to hold shaft 6 from rotation which may be easily done in an automobile construction by braking the rear wheels. The position of the eccentric is then reversed so that the pistons and valves operate in a relative manner opposite to the normal. Valve 28 is thrown into its position to connect pipe 27 and the reservoir and pressure is admitted to valves-16 to operate pistons 12 in cylinders 8. The clutch then operates as a This fluid pressure motor, the cylinders being rotated'and with them shaft 5 and the engine connected thereto. As soon as the engine has been started, shaft 6 is unlocked and may then be connected to shaft 5 as before explained.

By this im roved construction it will be seen that I liave avoided exhausting directly into the atmosphere from the periphcry of the clutch as shown in my former senses pat/ant, but instead I cause the exhaust to pass into a plurality of mufflers carried by the clutch. I have also changed the manner of feeding air to and from the revolving cylinders from the compression tank and the atmosphere by means of my duplex stuffing box 26 in combination with the annular air chamber 24: in the stuffing box.

Having described my invention What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: i 1. A clutch, comprising a driving and a driven member, cylinders mounted on said driving member, pistonsmounted on said driven member and reciprocating in said cylinders, valves for said cylinders mounted thereon and having port connection therewith, a mutileri'ormed in the frame'of said clutch between said cylinders, said valves bei-h also provided with ports to said n'nifi ers, and a third port to an air compressor tank, and reversible means to operate said valve by the relative movement of said driving and driven members to alter nately connect the cylinder port vWith the mufiler and with the compression tank.

2. A clutch, comprising a driving and a driven member, cylinders mounted on said driving member, pistons mounted on said driven member and adapted to reciprocate .in said cylinders upon the relative movethird compression port, a pressure storage chamber, means to connect said compression port to said storage chamber or to the atmosphere, and reversible means on said driven member to operate said valve to connect the atmosphere and the compression port alternately to the port leading to said cylinder. '3. In a clutch of the character described having a plurality of radially extending cylinders and reciprocating pistons therein,v a rnufiier for each cylinder, comprising a v chamber in the frame of theclutch, said lchambers communicating respectively with said cylinders. I a

In Witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 5th day of October 1909.

F RANK M. PRATHER,

Witnesses EDMUND A. S'rRAUsn, ETHEL COLEMAN. 

